Hurricane Kills 111 in Caribbean And Leaves Thousands Homeless

By The Associated Press

Published: October 24, 1988

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Oct. 23—
A severe storm began a new life over the Pacific Ocean today after a six-day trip across the Caribbean that reportedly killed at least 111 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless in five countries.

Nicaragua bore the brunt of the hurricane, with 50 reported killed and 300,000 refugees. Rain continued to drench the country today while the Government tried to organize rescue efforts and restore communications.

The storm, which was designated Joan, also left 21 people dead in Costa Rica, 4 in Panama, 25 in Colombia and 11 in Venezuela, bringing the death toll for six days to at least 111. More than 150 people were reported missing. Renamed in the Pacific

The hurricane weakened into a tropical storm over land but strengthened again when it reached the Pacific. No longer an Atlantic hurricane, it was given a new name - Tropical Storm Miriam. Forecasters said it could become the first recorded Atlantic hurricane to gain the same status in the Pacific.

Tonight the storm was about 50 miles southeast of San Salvador, with maximum sustained winds of about 55 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It said the storm was heading northwest at almost 10 m.p.h. The Salvadoran Government declared a nationwide state of emergency and ordered evacuations in flood-prone areas of the southeast. [ Reuters quoted Salvadoran Government and relief officials as saying that as many as 150,000 people could be left homeless by floods in the eastern part of the country, but that many peasants were refusing to be evacuated. ] The storm is the second Atlantic hurricane in six weeks to cause widespread death and destruction. Hurricane Gilbert, a September storm that devastated Jamaica and parts of Mexico and also raked the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras and southern Texas, is estimated to have killed 400 people.

Hurricane Joan blasted into the eastern coast city of Bluefields in Nicaragua with winds of 125 m.p.h. early Sat-urday and crossed the country of 3 million people, leaving a trail of death and destruction before reaching Managua about 10 P.M. Saturday.

Bluefields, Great Corn Island and the southeastern Atlantic coast region ''practically disappeared from the map,'' the Managua daily El Nuevo Diario said today.

The storm felled trees, electrical towers and telephone lines as it came through the capital.

Throughout the city today, people were cleaning mud-covered homes while others cut up fallen trees for fuel. Soldiers carrying picks and axes joined to clear the streets.

One death was reported in Managua, a man electrocuted by a downed power line.

Officials said there were 21 dead in Bluefields, 180 miles east of Managua. The town of about 25,000 was reported to be 90 percent destroyed. A Red Cross nurse in Bluefields said, ''There isn't enough left of the houses to make a fire.''

Officials said they were worried about food supplies and the lack of sanitary conditions in Bluefields. Bodies of rats littered the streets. Most of the people in the area rely on fishing for their living, and many boats were destroyed.

Nicaraguan Government officials issued appeals for relief from abroad, and a Cuban plane landed this afternoon in Managua carrying 35 tons of rice, condensed milk, beans and tuna, state radio reported.

President Daniel Ortega Saavedra, after touring the capital city of one million, reported that at least 50 people had died across Nicaragua and 300,000 had been left homeless. He gave no details.

Many people living in riverbeds near Managua lost their homes. Although thousands responded to repeated Government pleas to evacuate dangerous areas, Julio Ricardo Espinoza was one of many who ignored the calls.

''We were asleep, and we felt the rain and that part of the house just went,'' Mr. Espinoza said, casting a dazed glance down a 50-foot gulch at the remains of his small wooden home.

''We are poor,'' Mr. Espinoza said, ''and we didn't want to leave our things for people to come and steal.''

The capital has been swollen by refugees from the countryside who were displaced by attacks by the United States-supported contra rebels. Hundreds of thousands of refugees live in wood shacks with tin roofs.

Mr. Ortega, asked whether the United States should send aid, replied, ''The best humanitarian aid the United States could give us would be to stop its terrorist policies against Nicaragua.''

A Roman Catholic Church spokesman accused the Government of taking advantage of the disaster by broadcasting political slogans on radio.

Three dead were reported on Great Corn Island, in the Caribbean east of Bluefields; 140 missing in Rama, 30 miles west of Bluefields; 7 dead in Villa Sandino, 80 miles west of Bluefields; and 1 dead in Masatepe, about 30 miles east of Managua.

The Government said shrimp packing plants in El Bluff, near Bluefields, were flattened. Electrical power was reported cut throughout the country. Telephone service was spotty, and the only communication with the east coast was by radio.

''Telephone service has been cut to the cities of Bluefields, Matagalpa, Juigalpa, El Viejo, Granada, Jinotega and Leon, the main cities of the country,'' said a telephone company official in Managua.